Victorian dairy targets 100% renewables with solar + vanadium flow battery

One Step Off The Grid

A Victorian dairy farm is looking to cover all of its electricity needs with “affordable and reliable” renewable energy, via the installation of a 450kW solar system and a 80kW/320kWh vanadium redox flow battery.

Meredith Dairy – in the mid-western Victoria town of the same name – is installing the impressive solar and storage system in collaboration with Profit Share Power, with the battery component provided by VSUN Energy.

VSUN’s owner Australian Vanadium Limited said on Thursday that the Dairy’s goal was to have a sustainable operation with full power being supplied via onsite renewables.

The choice of a vanadium redox flow battery, which would be able to supply many hours of power while also offering high cycling capability, was a crucial part of meeting that goal, AVL said.

“This dairy farming project once again confirms the strength of VRFBs for the agricultural sector,” AVL managing director Vincent Algar said.

“Delivering reliable power generated from renewable sources in a long-life and non-flammable battery provides increased energy security.

“Being able to secure reliable power with a fixed energy price through the installation of solar and a VRFB system gives the business economic security for years to come,” he said.

To read the full story on RenewEconomy sister site, One Step Off The Grid, click here…

Comments

3 responses to “Victorian dairy targets 100% renewables with solar + vanadium flow battery”

  1. Ren Stimpy Avatar
    Ren Stimpy

    Good to see this technology moooooving into these types of markets.

  2. RobertO Avatar
    RobertO

    Hi All,

    Yes as a customer you can leave the grid (and the rules the locals apply may have forced this departure). This is not the BTM that I believe is best for all.

  3. Ian Avatar
    Ian

    Very nicely done. Intriguing that the solar array is sized so much bigger than the battery: 440kW of solar , 80kW/320kWh -on a good day they might get 2500kWh out of their solar panels. Why would they do that? Is there significant load management making the majority of energy use occur in the day? Is the solar array wildly oversized to cope with overcast days? Perhaps they have some thermal storage for process heat or the refrigerators have decent ice storage?

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